Restaurant management can be a highly engaging career for those wanting to work in the food-service industry. But with rising energy and food costs, staff shortages, and the lingering impact of the pandemic, the hospitality industry has become more challenging than ever.
Restaurateurs must find new ways to keep their restaurant businesses thriving in an ever-changing economic climate.
If you want to raise your restaurant’s profit margins, keep guests sitting down in your dining room, and improve the customer experience, follow these seven restaurant management tips and enjoy a more successful restaurant.
When opening your own restaurant, one of the most important steps is writing a detailed business plan to set out your expectations for day-to-day restaurant operations.
But standard operating procedures (SOPs) can change after a restaurant’s grand opening, and your restaurant management team may now have a clearer idea of how the restaurant should run.
The type of restaurant you run could be very different from what you initially expected; you may have a different target customer base now, or you might want to update your menu’s specials more regularly than you originally planned.
Chat with your general manager about how things work in reality. They’ll have gained more know-how and insight into hospitality management, and they can help you update your business plan with new revenue management goals, food safety regulations, marketing plans, and SOPs.
Many restaurant managers underestimate the importance of an effective ordering system and believe that simple paper tickets are the best choice. However, a more efficient system could streamline and speed up your order-to-table times, improving the overall customer experience — faster food preparation leads to happier customers.
By using point-of-sale (POS) software and a kitchen display system (KDS), you can eliminate the need for paper tickets. Your front-of-house (FOH) team processes the customer order on the POS, which appears on the KDS in real time. There’s no need for FOH staff to carry orders to your kitchen, meaning customers can receive their orders more quickly than with a traditional ticket system.
If you run a quick-service restaurant or offer takeout, a self-ordering app like KioskBuddy could further improve your ordering system. Customers place and pay for orders themselves on a touchscreen tablet. The POS software processes their payments and automatically sends orders to the KDS, leaving your staffers free to focus on other tasks.
An effective restaurant marketing strategy with the right messaging can dramatically improve your restaurant’s income and increase your customer base. Many restaurant management teams neglect their marketing plans after their grand opening, but keeping up your marketing efforts is essential to see continued growth.
Traditional advertising can be expensive, but you can use fantastic low-cost methods to raise awareness of your restaurant. Some ideas include:
Social media: Facebook and Instagram are free platforms that can quickly spread word of mouth about your restaurant. Post videos and images showcasing your specials, menu, and employees. Share regularly, and engage with diners who comment on your posts — that’s the key to building a loyal following of hungry customers.
Reviews: You need effective restaurant management in place to earn five-star reviews on Google My Business or Yelp. To get them, ask every diner to leave a review. Not everyone will, but you’d be surprised how helpful customers can be when you ask for a favor.
A sound restaurant management system should include training programs for new hires and existing team members. Not only can this improve customer satisfaction, but it can also create a more positive work environment and help you retain staff. Retention of staff members keeps labor costs down, as your human resources department won’t have to spend money searching for new hires.
You should also help your restaurant staff gain new skills so they get more from their employment with you. From kitchen staff and bartenders to servers and hosts, everyone in the front and back of house can benefit from training sessions. Consider communication seminars and conflict resolution techniques, or provide basic cooking lessons to staffers so they know what goes into the food you serve.
A great restaurant manager needs excellent employee management skills, so consider undergoing a training session yourself if you want to keep your employees happy.
You can also ensure your staff is well looked after by:
Ensuring you pay a living wage to all employees
Scheduling ahead of time to give plenty of warning about upcoming shifts
Celebrating your team with bonuses, treats, and rewards
Providing other incentives, such as health insurance, PTO, tuition assistance, and shift meals
Keeping your staff happy is an essential part of restaurant management. Ask your team for feedback on what would make their workplace happier, and enact whatever changes you can.
Another essential aspect of restaurant management is ensuring that your diners enjoy the food you’re serving up and you’re earning a profit on each dish. A good restaurant manager constantly reviews their menu to ensure they know which menu items are selling well and which should be replaced.
Review your sales data and determine which dishes aren’t popular with customers. If you think it’s because a dish is too expensive, consider lowering the selling price, but ensure you’ll still make a profit on every order. If it’s priced fairly but still isn’t selling, you can try rewording your menu description, giving it a new name, or simply replacing it with a new dish.
Chefs and restaurateurs can become attached to dishes even if they aren’t performing well, so remember to use sales data to inform these decisions. Forecasting which dishes will be popular isn’t always easy, but your aim is to maximize potential income, so keep this in mind while rewriting your menu.
The best restaurant managers work hard to improve the overall dining experience. Starting a customer loyalty program can be an effective restaurant management strategy if you want to foster a loyal customer base.
There are various systems for setting up a loyalty program. POS technology often allows customers to sign up with their email addresses and collect points for each purchase. This is a simple way to set up a loyalty plan that lets you use existing software.
Alternatively, you can use a stamp-card system. Customers earn a stamp for every $10 spent, every entree they buy, or every visit. When their stamp card is full, they can exchange it for a reward, like a free dessert or a money-off coupon.
Rewards programs can encourage customer loyalty and are a great way to get customers excited about coming back to eat at your restaurant again and again.
Automation can help with various areas of restaurant management and streamline your processes. We’ve already mentioned how a POS system, KDS, and self-service device could improve your ordering system, but there are several other restaurant technologies that could save you time on your day-to-day operations:
Inventory management: Inventory software can help you stay on top of sourcing and ordering ingredients so you don’t run out of essentials. It could also help you reduce food waste by ensuring you don’t order anything you already have in stock.
Tracking sales: Keeping an eye on your sales data and expenses helps you know what to expect at the end of each month or quarter. Staying on top of your finances is essential to restaurant management, and the right software can save you time and energy on this often-challenging task.
Employee scheduling: Managing your staffers’ shifts is critical to ensure you have enough FOH and BOH employees for busy shifts and to prevent over-staffing when it’s quiet. Scheduling software makes it easy to visualize who’s working when and can help you notify your staffers.
Many POS software solutions include these features in their standard or advanced plans, so you don’t necessarily have to pay an arm and a leg for their convenience.
Proper restaurant management techniques can help restaurant owners keep things running smoothly and improve their profit margins. The restaurant industry is constantly changing, but the seven restaurant management tips above can set you up for long-term success.
KioskBuddy is an excellent solution for managers looking to set up self-service in their restaurants. Customers can place their own orders in just a few taps, leaving your FOH staff free to focus on other things.